Certain steering or chassis control systems for motor vehicles utilize information such as steering wheel angular position as measured by a steering wheel position sensor. In general, the steering wheel position sensor provides an output signal that increases as the steering wheel (also referred to as the hand wheel) is steered in one direction and decreases when the steering wheel is steered in the other direction. The output signal may be an analog signal or it may be a digital signal that increments and decrements a digital counter with movement of the steering wheel. Some sensors provide an on-center position signal meant to correspond to when the vehicle is steered straight ahead. However, offsets between the angular position of the steering wheel as measured by the steering wheel sensor and the steered position of the front wheels of the vehicle may occur due to drift in electrical components of the sensor and mechanical misalignment in assembling the sensor to the vehicle or that occur as the vehicle ages. Thus, the on-center signal of the position sensor may be offset from the true on-center steering position of the vehicle.
In view of this nature of the steering position sensor, some sensors are provided without an inherent on-center position signal and, thus, the steering position signal output simply indicates relative angular movement of the steering wheel.